Post-Election: Live Blogging the Market Reaction

Stocks are down sharply in the wake of President Obama’s victory in last night’s election, defeating GOP challenger Mitt Romney in a tight election that also saw Congressional elections that left the battle lines largely unchanged: Democrats control the White House and Senate, Republicans hold the House.

Does that mean Washington will remain its usual, deadlocked, do-nothing self? Or will the specter of a second-term president with no more political games to play change the Beltway zeitgeist? Let’s hope it’s the latter, because there are big, immediate issues facing the country, the most prominent being the so-called fiscal cliff. For investors especially, the outcome of the tax-code battles will be a particular focus.

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